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So I am assuming you will be glued to the TV to see 2 third world nations not score in soccer this week? 1-nil - wow, that really gets the blood flowing.
Yep, love all that scoring in hockey now. And this is from an ex-season ticket holder for hockey not to mention I played for years. Hockey is more exciting than soccer but it is not like it was back in the 80's.
Although most will never admit it...I will...I used to hate soccer, back when I was a foaming at the mouth right-winger. I hated the Olympics, Soccer, anything that could possibly show in any way possible that the US wasn't the center of the world or the greatest in the world. Since growing up and becoming an adult and a reformed talk-radiot, I really have grown to love soccer.
Part of it was the time I spent in Iraq and having met and worked with so many people of different nationalities. Yeah I still find it confusing, but a new fan of any sport will find that sport confusing until they learn it. And the tie scores suck, and the drama some of the players display when trying to get calls their way go against what I believe an athlete should be. But it is a great game when you really watch it. And I love the global aspect of it. Seeing athletes and fans from completely different parts of the world coming together and competing and seeing just how different they all are, yet at the same time how much alike they all are, is just awesome.
And as far as the venues and fans...No American sport compares to the way pride for you team and/or country is displayed in soccer matches. It's an awesome sight to see!
Let me say first that of the world's six major football codes, I love two of them (American football, rugby union) and enjoy two others (Gaelic football, Aussie rules football). The two that don't work for me are rugby league and soccer. But it hasn't been for lack of trying. Rugby league, IMO, suffers in comparison to the two sports it most resembles (rugby union and American football), and soccer just doesn't have enough scoring chances.
It's not that the low scores bother me. I love hockey, and there's nothing like a good goalie battle that ends in a 1-0 score. But in soccer, all the action seems to consist of the front line passing the ball around at midfield until a defender clears it to the other side of the field, and you see maybe five or six genuine scoring opportunities in an entire match. I wouldn't enjoy hockey, either, if most of the action consisted of players dumping the puck back and forth between the blue lines.
I could probably get more interested if soccer either got rid of or revised the offside rule. So many scoring chances are negated just because an attacker runs past a defender at the last second. I don't care about the "cherry-picking" complaints ... the goalie will just have to work harder to keep the ball out of the net. Gaelic football -- which, if you know anything about it, is very similar to soccer -- has no offside rule, and it seems to do just fine.
Another alternative would be to introduce the equivalent of hockey's blue line. Make it so that no one can enter the attacking zone before the ball does. That way, the offside rule is dealt with well before there's a chance to negate a scoring opportunity.
I love Baseball, Hockey and American football. But I just can't get into soccer, I tried for like the 10th time during the last world cup, watched for about 45 minutes and didn't even see a shot on goal.
i didn't grow up playing it (unless you count Gym class) so maybe that plays a role, understanding the subtleties.
I have watched it and frankly for some reason it doesn't appeal to me. In some ways I guess once you are raised on one or two sports you get caught up in those sports. I like tennis;volleyball to play but watching bores me. It might be the same with soccer.I don't see the hard pitch being made really as I thnik its like F1 rcing ;a very hard sell and limited interest overall.
Let me say first that of the world's six major football codes, I love two of them (American football, rugby union) and enjoy two others (Gaelic football, Aussie rules football). The two that don't work for me are rugby league and soccer. But it hasn't been for lack of trying. Rugby league, IMO, suffers in comparison to the two sports it most resembles (rugby union and American football), and soccer just doesn't have enough scoring chances.
It's not that the low scores bother me. I love hockey, and there's nothing like a good goalie battle that ends in a 1-0 score. But in soccer, all the action seems to consist of the front line passing the ball around at midfield until a defender clears it to the other side of the field, and you see maybe five or six genuine scoring opportunities in an entire match. I wouldn't enjoy hockey, either, if most of the action consisted of players dumping the puck back and forth between the blue lines.
I could probably get more interested if soccer either got rid of or revised the offside rule. So many scoring chances are negated just because an attacker runs past a defender at the last second. I don't care about the "cherry-picking" complaints ... the goalie will just have to work harder to keep the ball out of the net. Gaelic football -- which, if you know anything about it, is very similar to soccer -- has no offside rule, and it seems to do just fine.
Another alternative would be to introduce the equivalent of hockey's blue line. Make it so that no one can enter the attacking zone before the ball does. That way, the offside rule is dealt with well before there's a chance to negate a scoring opportunity.
My $0.02.
Australian football and soccer make Gaelic kinda redundant. I'm the opposite on the rugby codes. I watch league because of the athleticism, not scrums or lineouts which are essentially glorified faceoffs and throwins that result in the same team maintaining possession way more often than not. Also, Canadian football makes 7 major codes, but it is similarly made redundant by the more readily available American variety.
As for offside rule in soccer, the only exception I would make are needing two defenders behind the ball if one is not the goalkeeper (see Mexico's no-goal against South Africa). Furthermore, I might eliminate the possibility of a player being offside within the six-yard box as it's a very tight area and nobody's going to be cherry-picking in such close quarters. For the most part, though, I like the rule as is. The beauty of a perfectly timed play is not something to throw away. I love seeing defenders get burned playing the offside trap.
I think your comparison to Gaelic is off. Goalkeepers are not out to dry since the opposing team can simply kick the ball over instead of on net. If goalkeepers were getting burned all the time, I'll bet they'd remedy that somehow. Plus, there are 15 men per side so more can stay back at all times.
^ Fair point about Gaelic ball. There are lots more singles than goals. But I'd wager (having not watched a lot of Gaelic or soccer) that there are more goals scored in a typical Gaelic game than in soccer -- or at least more opportunities to shoot on net.
As for how many codes there are, that's always perplexed me, too. Most people talk about six official codes, in which gridiron ball all gets lumped into a single category (American, Canadian, arena), while rugby somehow merits two separate codes. Go figure.
As I am a sports fanatic, I am not going to argue with you on your response but I am truly curious to know why, if you generally like sports but don't like soccer...why not?
I know the most common reasons are:
1) It's boring.
Sure, when you hear about 0-0 ties it sounds boring but have you watched it? Believe me, I've seen some pretty exciting 0-0 games and unlike most other sports, soccer players are always moving. You don't see stoppage of play like you do in other sports.
2) I don't understand it.
Did you try to watch it? No matter which sport you follow I'm sure you didn't come out of your mothers womb knowing all about it. Somebody had to teach you.
3) It's hard to follow.
It's a big ball. Unlike a hockey puck.
4) It's un-American
True, true, true. But in reality the only sport that is "American made" is basketball. All the others have been "Americanized" from other sports.
Football=Rugby
Baseball=Cricket
So, just curious to know why don't you like soccer?
I would love soccer, but hate the stupid draw option!
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Somebody had to teach you.
